Polycom CEO resigns after expense-report scandal

Videoconferencing is advertised as a tool to reduce travel expenses, but for the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the business, apparently that wasn’t enough.

Polycom President and CEO Andrew Miller has resigned after the audit committee of the company’s board found irregularities in his expense-report submissions. He quit Friday, and Polycom announced his departure in its second-quarter earnings announcement Tuesday. Kevin Parker, a managing principal at Bridge Growth Partners and a Polycom board member since 2005, has been named interim CEO.

Miller took responsibility for the expense-report irregularities, which didn’t involve any other employees, Polycom said. They weren’t big enough to have a material impact on the company’s current or previous financial results, according to the company. It gave no other details about the reports. Miller also gave up his seat on Polycom’s board.

Miller joined the company in 2009 as executive vice president of global field operations and became CEO in 2010. Previously, he had been global president of IPC Information Systems, a financial trading communications company, and CEO of the Norwegian video system maker Tandberg, which has since been acquired by Cisco Systems.

“Andy Miller’s resignation under these circumstances was disappointing and should not be viewed as a reflection of the financial integrity of the company, the strength of our team or our plans for the future,” Parker said in a written statement in the financial press release.

Polycom’s revenue in the second quarter ended June 30 fell almost 4 percent from a year earlier, to $345.2 million, while net income fell to $5.3 million from $6.3 million.